Finding My Adventure

C25: 2009. Wow. The first chapter of the new year. I can't believe how long this has gotten. I mean, it's already over 27000 words!

Carrie: How'd you have time to write that much? You must not have any life at all.

C25: Yeah. It's kinda sad.

Kairi: It's okay. We'll be your friends, right guys?

Carrie: Uhh, sure.

Chuck: What?... I guess.

Bartleby: Actually, I highly enjoy your company. Our intellectual discourses are quite stimulating.

C25: Heh heh, right. Anyway, I've heard from one of the readers that the story is going a little too slowly, so I'll try to step up the pace a little, throw in some more battles. If anyone has any tips on writing battle scenes, they would be greatly appreciated. A little note, all family relations of Sora or Kairi mentioned in my story come from Star Tours Traveler's Reunion series, as does the character Lulu(not from FFX) I know it seems as if I take a lot from STT, but it's pretty crucial to the plot for certain things to be in place. Also, check out Spiral's finished picture of Chuck by clicking the link on my profile! Now, on to the story!

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Chapter 9:The Rumble in the Jungle

Chuck's POV...I guess

I was falling. I could feel it. Even though everything around me was blackness, I knew I was falling head first. It felt as though I was moving through water. As I fell, my duster flapped around my legs, making no sound. After what seemed like an eternity, my descent slowed, and I drifted upright, lightly touching down on something solid. I looked left and right, but everything was black. I took a step forward. Instantly, the ground erupted in confusion. What seemed like thousands of doves took to wing, revealing a stained glass platform beneath my feet, glowing with an eerie light. It was a mural of someone.

'This seems familiar, somehow.'

I heard a voice, echoing within my head.

'So much to do, so little time...'

I looked around, confused.

'Take your time, don't be afraid. The door is still shut.'

All of this seemed like something I've been through before, or something someone else had been through.

'Now, step forward. Can you do it?'

It was harder to move my leg than it should be. Still, I was able to. Suddenly, three platforms raised from the ground. Above one was a sword, another a shield, and above the third was a staff.

'Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength...Choose well.'

I stepped up to the sword.

'A sword of great strength. Courage and determination, the power to destroy. Is this the form you choose?'

I stepped over to the shield.

'A shield to protect those you love. Defense against all harm, resistant to change. Is this the form you choose?'

I approached the staff.

'A staff of wonder and ruin. Inner strength, a tool of magic, the power to change. Is this the form you choose?'

I selected the sword.

'Now, you must give up something in return.'

I gave up the shield.

'Strength to weather the darkness, power to change the future...You will have to fight...'

As it spoke, all around me heartless sprang up. I got into my battle stance, the sword materializing in my hands.

'-But don't be afraid...You wield the mightiest weapon of all...'

A shadow grew across the platform. It began to gain depth. The shadow started pulling itself up from the floor. I ran. I stopped short, nearly falling off the edge.

'-Don't be afraid...And don't forget...'

I turned and faced the creature growing before me. I realized that it had been this that had been speaking.

'-And don't forget...You are the one...who will be late for breakfast...'

WTF? The shadow took on the shape of Carrie's head.

'You're going to be late for breakfast. Lazy bum.'

"AAAHHH!"

I bolted upright in the bed, narrowly avoiding head butting Carrie in the process. She jumped back, startled by my sudden movement.

"Jeez, Chuck, you nearly decked me!"

"Sorry, YAWN!, Carrie. Didn't mean to."

I stretched and began to work the sleep out of my body.

"Anyway," Carrie said, "If you don't get downstairs quick, you might miss breakfast, and Aerith's making waffles!"

At this, she dashed downstairs, presumably to return to her waffles. I followed after taking a quick shower in the bathroom down the hall. Everyone else was mostly done by the time I got downstairs, and there were only a few pancakes left. Aerith was still hanging around, tidying up the kitchen, humming to herself. I said good morning, then grabbed some waffles and started in.

We had been there four days already, and were no further in finding out anything about who Ventus was, where he came from, or how the heartless were involved. Each of the members of the Radiant Garden Reconstruction Committee had made contact with others who might know something, but we have yet to hear back from anyone. Kairi attempted to contact Sora and Riku, but their gummy ship was out of range, so she just left a message letting them know she was okay, and telling them she was on Radiant Garden. So, we had nothing to do. Until we heard something from Yuffie, Merlin, Aerith, or Leon's contacts, we couldn't leave. Especially since we had no idea where we should go next. Leon suggested that we train. He had us go out with him and scour the city for heartless everyday, each taking turns to tackle the meager groups of heartless we could find. If we couldn't find any, Leon would drill us and we would spar with each other.

Of course, Yuffie, with her ninja skills and experience with marksmanship, took Carrie under her wing and worked with her on finding good sniping spots, steadying her aim, and also how to use shuriken, in case she ran out of arrows. Carrie also found out that her bow had hidden blades that could be released for close-combat. She was getting pretty good with them, from what I've heard. Yuffie also worked with Bartleby on hand-to-hand combat, but he didn't really need all that much instruction, as his fight instincts were excellent. Merlin worked with us too, helping us hone our magic abilities. Under his tutelage I managed to learn how to cast Gravity, as well as better use magic to improve my strength, speed, and stamina. Not much, but a little. I could almost keep up with Kairi in a race.

I was surprised when, just yesterday, we got a communication from Sora's ship. He said they were on their way and should reach Radiant Garden in two days, meaning that by tomorrow, they should be here. I was kinda jazzed to meet him. I mean, he saved the universe. Twice!

'Until then' I thought to myself as I finished my waffles, 'I've still got training to do.'

"Thanks for the waffles, Aerith," I said as I put my plate in the dish washer.

"No problem. Have fun with training!"

I waved over my shoulder as I headed out the door. It was cool how quickly I felt accepted by them. I had only known them personally for four days, but it felt like I had gotten close to all of them. Yuffie, Leon, Merlin, Aerith, they felt like family.

I made my way towards the outskirts of town. Today, Leon was going to take us beyond the city walls into the wilderness surrounding the city. According to him, the city heartless were no longer any challenge for us. I was kinda nervous, to be honest. Going into the wilderness meant that there would be little to no help if we got into trouble. Not to mention the stronger, and more numerous, heartless that roamed the forest.

Rounding a corner, I saw Leon, Kairi, Carrie, and Bartleby waiting for me. They waved as I approached.

"Hey! What took you so long, slow-poke?" Kairi called out.

"Eh, just lazy I guess. So, Leon, what's the plan?" I asked, turning to the warrior.

"We'll probably just head out and see what turns up."

Carrie was bouncing up and down with anticipation. I noticed that, instead of slung across her back, she had found a way to fold up her bow, and had is hanging at her hip. I, too, had changed where I hung Katta-omoi. It kept getting in the way when I was running, so I had started to sling it across my back, like Carrie used to do with her bow. Huh, guess we switched styles.

"Let's go let's go! C'mon! I wanna kick some heartless ass!" Carrie shouted. "No offense Bartleby"

"None taken."

Leon turned to face the gate in behind him.

"Then let's go."

He typed a password into a keypad, and the gate swung open. We followed him through, into the wilderness. As I stepped through the gate, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was following me. I looked over my shoulder, but I didn't see anyone. I shook my head.

"Must be my imagination." I said to myself, then hurried to catch up with the others.

Carrie's POV

I watched from my perch on the tree as Chuck and Bartleby were forced back to back, surrounded by a ring of Neoshadows. They were a good team. Bartleby was very fast, and he kept Neoshadows from creeping up from behind Chuck. Chuck was a much better swordsman than he keeps saying he is, and it showed. Not one Neoshadow got past his guard. His sword flashed, his duster whirled, and heartless fell around him. I shook my head vigorously.

"C'mon, pull yourself together, there's a fight going on."

I sighed as I threw myself from the branch, into open air. I landed lightly on the limb of a neighboring tree, and looked for a target. I spotted a heartless that Bartleby must have missed, sneaking up on Chuck from behind. I knocked an arrow and chanted under my breath for a few seconds before drawing and loosing my shot. It landed right at the Neoshadow's feet, and it halted, looking at it confusedly. The arrow dissolved, and in it's place were hundreds of little spiders. They immediately swarmed the Neoshadow, wrapping it in a cocoon of webbing, then moved on to others in the area, before finally disappearing with a collective POP. I loved that spell. It was one of my favorites.

Soon, the heartless were taken care of, and we were recuperating from the fight. Kairi and Leon had gotten separated from us, and had to fight their way back individually, so they were the worst off, but even so only had minor cuts and bruises.

"This is odd." Leon said, looking around suspiciously.

"What's odd?" I asked, scratching my head.

"Have you seen anything bigger than a Neoshadow yet?" he asked.

We all shook our heads.

"No," Kairi replied, "In fact, that's all I've seen. And in larger numbers than usual."

Leon nodded.

"Exactly. Even in the city, there are more powerful heartless. Morning Stars and Bookmasters, so why are there only Neoshadows?"

I shrugged.

"Not like it's a bad thing, right? I mean, we totally kicked their asses and stuff, so no biggie, right?"

Leon just shook his head.

"I don't know. I don't like it."

I shrugged again. Why worry about things like this, y'know? I looked over at Chuck, and was about to ask him what he thought, but something in the way he stood stopped me. He kept looking over his shoulder, then shaking his head.

"What's up, Chuck? Something wrong?"

He shivered, then shook his head.

"What? No, nothings wrong, it's just..." he trailed off, looking worried.

Just then, there was a scream. It sounded like someone was in trouble. I looked around at everyone, then just said,

"To the rescue, right?"

Bartleby, having the keenest senses out of all of us, lead the way at a quick pace. Kairi and Leon were right behind him, but Chuck hung back a few steps, so I slowed to run next to him.

"Chuck, you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why?"

I raised my eyebrow at him.

"So, you being Captain McSpacey since we left the city is just a sign of how great you're feeling?"

"Look, it's nothing, alright," he said, shaking his head. "I just have this weird feeling, okay? It's probably nothing."

"Alright, if you say so."

He looked at me then, with the oddest expression.

"That spider thing back there. Was that you?"

I nodded.

"Yep! Why?"

He shuddered a little bit as he spoke.

"Ugh. That was so creepy! Where'd you come up with something like that?!"

I just gave him a creepy grin and asked in my cheeriest voice, "Do you really want to know?"

He shook his head immediately.

"Uhh, no. I don't think so. Somehow, I doubt it came from a land of sunshine and rainbows."

I opened my mouth to speak, but from the look on Chuck's face, and the sound of fighting, we were there.

We emerged into a clearing, and at first, I thought it was filled with jello. No, I'm serious, that's what it looked like. A mass of gray, wiggling jello. That was up until one of the bits of jello lunged at me. I whipped an arrow out of my quiver and made to stab the thing, but it squirmed out of the way and knocked me over from behind.

Chuck was there in an instant, but he was having just as difficult a time hitting it as I did. I pulled out another arrow, and chanted,

"Ira, sedo nemus, quod redimio meus hostilis !" (Latin, find a translator online)

I fired the arrow at the nearest tree, and immediately roots began to sprout from the ground at the creature's feet, binding it and tripping it up enough for Chuck to slice it in half. He reached out and gave me a hand up.

"Nobodies. Slippery bastards. Mostly Dusks and Creepers. Dusks are the ones that look kinda like people, except more flexible. Creepers are the small ones that keep shape-shifting," Chuck said.

Then he took off toward the center of the clearing. Instead of following, I ran to the tree I had shot, whispered,

"levo mihi" and stepped onto the proffered limb, which lifted me up into the tree.

I ran out onto one of the upper boughs, and was able to see what the commotion was. In the middle of the crowd of Nobodies was Ventus, holding a girl by the arm, grinning cheerily, and brandishing his keyblade. It was obviously the girl who had screamed. Chuck, Bartleby, Leon, and Kairi were attempting to fight their way towards the mad man. Bartleby was leading the way, using his speed to stun as many Nobodies as he could, so Kairi, Chuck, and Leon could take them down. They were already about a third of the way through the group, but were losing momentum. Already, I could see Chuck had taken numerous hits, and Bartleby was slowing, too.

I knocked an arrow to my bow and muttered,

"Levitas emanio amo torva-incendia, tamen pulsatus tantum quis EGO votum."

The arrowhead crackled with electricity as I let it fly. It struck the ground right in front of Bartleby, stopping an advancing Nobody in it's tracks. The Dusk was blasted with electricity, but it didn't stop there. The charge arced from it to it's neighbors, and from them to theirs. The stunned Nobodies were easily dispatched by Chuck and the others, and they swiftly broke through to Ventus. There was no way I was going to sit out here safely while Chuck faced Ventus alone. Well, not alone, but you get the idea. I pulled a special arrow from my quiver. Attached to the back was an anchor and a reel of steel cord. I plunged the anchor into the tree, then shot the arrow at Ventus' feet. Then, holding either end of my bow, I slid down the cable like a zip-line.

"WOOOOHOOOO!"

I dismounted with a flip to land right next to Chuck. I turned to face Ventus, knocking another arrow and drawing a bead on him.

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

"Very good. Very...Bond."

Ventus' voice was laced with an easy sarcasm that belied the danger he posed. Chuck made to charge him, but Leon held him back, stepping up to the front of the group. Leon confronted him with an easy strength, gunblade over one shoulder.

"Ventus, right?"

"That's me, but all my friends call me Venny," Ventus said, giving a mocking bow and grinning wryly.

"And who might those friends of yours be?"

Venny shook a finger at him, shaking his head.

"I don't think you would know him. Not yet. But you will soon."

He pulled the girl closer to himself, getting a firmer grip on her. Leon started forward, but stopped when Venny put Ultima to her neck.

"Sorry. She's coming with me."

Chuck glanced at Bartleby, who nodded and slowly moved towards the back of the group. Chuck made eye contact with me, and I immediately got the message: diversion. I stepped past Leon and walked right up to Venny.

"Listen up, Venny," I said, poking him in the chest. He looked too surprised to do anything. "It's not very nice to treat people like that. I mean, what would your mother think if she saw how you're handling that very nice looking young lady?!" I said this all very fast and in one breath. As I stopped to breath, he actually made a reply. Go figure.

"If you want to know what my mommy dearest would think, why don't you just ask her?"

"Well I'll tell you what she'd say, she'd say," I did a double-take. "Wait, what!?"

He sighed dramatically. What a drama queen.

"I can't believe you guys haven't figured it out yet. Really, you're pretty slow."

Venny hit me flat-palmed on the chest, throwing me backwards. Thankfully, Chuck caught me before I knocked anyone over.

"Thanks," I whispered.

He smiled at me.

"Don't mention it." He looked up at Ventus, then and demanded, "What are you talking about? Get to the point!"

Venny chuckled, then pointed at Kairi with his keyblade.

"Tell me, mother, what do you think of my behavior?"

I was shocked, to say the least. I mean, Kairi'd have to be at least twice as old as she says he is for him to be right. Right? I looked at Kairi, but she seemed as confused as I was.

"Wh-what did you say?" She managed to stammer out.

"I said, that you are my mother, Kairi. Or should I say, mommy."

At that precise moment, Bartleby popped out of the ground behind Ventus and slashed the arm that was holding the girl, forcing Venny to drop her. Chuck dashed forward and scooped up the girl, while I shot a volley of arrows at him. Ventus threw Bartleby off of him, sending him flying back first into a tree. My arrows, he just shrugged off like they were gnats. Kairi just stood there like a lump on a log. Chuck made it back to us, and Leon stepped in front of him, settling into his fighting stance. I looked behind us and noticed there were still at least a hundred Nobodies blocking our way back. We were pretty screwed.

Leon shouted over his shoulder, "Go, I'll hold him off. Get Bartleby and get out of here!"

I nodded, then turned to Kairi and slapped her hard across the face. That seemed to wake her up.

"Thanks," she said, shaking her head.

"No problem."

I looked over at Chuck to see that he was pretty hampered by the girl clinging to him like a life raft. For some reason, it kinda ticked me off to see her hanging on him like that. Whatever. She was probably just scared.

"Hey, girl, can you run?"

She nodded weakly. There would be time for introductions later. We grouped together, then began fighting our way through the crowd to Bartleby. We got to him in time to hear Leon's grunt of pain as he was disarmed by Venny. I have to hand it to him, that Venny's got skill with a sword. Leon was down, Bartleby was injured, and there were hundreds of Nobodies surrounding us. Things did not look good. I saw Venny looking like he was about to go in for the kill. Chuck saw it too. He nodded to me, and I grabbed the girl. He wouldn't be able to make it through all the Nobodies with dead weight like her hanging onto him, and as an added bonus, it kept her from hugging him too. Just cause I didn't know why it irked me that she was hanging all over him, didn't mean that I didn't want to do something about it.

I stopped him before he took off and said, "Try not to get yourself killed, 'kay?"

He just winked, then ran off, igniting his sword on the way.

Chuck made it about half way, and it looked like he was going to be too late. Then, all of a sudden, the Nobodies started vanishing. Just like that, they were leaving. Poof. Within half a second, most of them were gone. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw one of them bow to the girl, and her nod back. I shook my head. That couldn't be right. Must be imagining things. I looked back to Chuck, and was relieved to see that he had successfully stopped Ventus from beheading Leon. However, he was losing ground rapidly. Venny was pushing him back, and kept getting little strikes in under Chuck's guard. Chuck was parrying furiously, his sword flashing, duster flapping, but he was slowing down. Ventus cornered him against a tree. They locked swords, pushing against each other in a contest of strength. Ventus started speaking to Chuck, and I could just barely make out what he was saying.

"...you'll lose. You know it. I'm better than you. Just give up."

Chuck replied with a grunted, "Never."

"Why, Chuck? Why not join me? I'm not evil. I'm not even the bad guy. You and I could be friends."

Chuck snorted derisively.

"No, really. I honestly think we could," Ventus continued, pushing even harder against Chuck, "At least then you wouldn't have to die."

Chuck let out a noise halfway between a groan and a laugh.

"Who says I'm going to die? Gravity!"

A pocket of warped space appeared above Chuck, pulling him up and away from Venny, who stumbled against the tree. Chuck then kicked off the tree, landing behind Ventus just in time to receive a kick to the stomach that sent him sprawling. Venny chuckled.

"Nice trick. Won't save you. You see, I'm pretty pissed right now. So I'm going to do something I really didn't want to. I'm going to have to destroy this world and everyone on it. So you'd best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord."

With that, he raised his hand and formed a portal. Before going, he looked directly at me. Or at least, it seemed like he did. Maybe he was looking at the girl I was restraining from going to Chuck? In any case, he winked, then disappeared through the portal. Then, the ground started to shake, and I began to panic.

"HOLYSHITholyshitholyshit! We're going to die!"

Chuck helped Leon back to us, then collapsed on the ground.

"Carrie, I think you might be right."

A new voice broke in then, and I turned around to see a man standing in the doorway of a big blue box that had the word Police written across the top.

"Look at you all! The world's ending and you're just lying there!"

Chuck looked at him, nonplussed.

"When did you get here?"

"Just now. Well?" he said, gesturing into the box.

"Well what?" Kairi asked.

"Are you coming or what?"

"In there?"

"Yup."

"We won't fit." I said.

"You'd be surprised," he replied, turning and walking into the box.

I looked at Chuck and shrugged.

"Worth a shot if it means we don't die." I said.

He shrugged back, and we all walked into the box. Remember how I thought there wouldn't be enough room? Well, I was wrong.

The man strode quickly to the center of the huge cathedral like room we were in, where a large console stood, surrounding a tall blue tube that rose all the way to the ceiling. He spoke quickly as he worked, twisting knobs, pulling levers, and sometimes hitting things with a mallet.

"I'm the Doctor, welcome to the TARDIS, stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and you had better hold on to something."

Before we could brace ourselves, the floor shook, and we were all dumped unceremoniously to the ground. The man calling himself the Doctor strode to the door and flung it open. Outside, Radiant Garden was being swallowed by the darkness.

"I'm sorry," he said, very sadly, "I couldn't save them. I really am sorry, but I only had time for one more trip, and I had to save all of you."

We watched as Radiant Garden was devoured, along with everyone on it.

Chuck's POV

It was horrible, the end of Radiant Garden. And us being the only ones who survived.

"Wait a second, you said you only had time for one MORE stop. Where else did you go?" I asked the Doctor.

"Oh, there'll be time for that in a bit, but first, introductions! You know me, I'm the Doctor! But I'm afraid I don't know you."

I was about to tell him who we were, when Kairi cut me off.

"You keep saying you're the Doctor, but what's your name? Doctor who?"

"Nope, that's it, just the Doctor. You would be...?"

"Kairi. And that's Chuck, Carrie, Bartleby, Leon, and..." she trailed off, looking at the girl questioningly.

"Lulu," she said.

"And Lulu," Kairi finished.

Lulu seemed to notice I was there again, and quickly re-attached herself to me. Needless to say, I felt a little uncomfortable. It's not like women were throwing themselves at me back home. I just went with it for now. I mean, it's not like she wasn't attractive. She had long blond hair that hung over her shoulder on one side(think Namine), and looked to be around sixteen. Lulu was also, ahem, well endowed, and wore clothes that were clearly meant to accentuate her...well endowed-ness. I tried to focus on something else.

"So, you said you made another stop..." I prompted.

"Right. If you'll just follow me, it can be pretty easy to get lost in the TARDIS."

The Doctor led us through the halls of the TARDIS, and, from what I saw, it had to be bigger than Radiant Garden's castle! It had a brass and steel kind of theme to it, and had stair cases and doorways leading off in every direction. Lulu kept close to me the whole time.

"Thank you," she said after a while.

"For what?"

"For saving me. I'm really grateful," she replied.

"I didn't really do anything. It's Bartleby and Carrie you should be thanking."

"No," she said, hugging my arm tightly, "You were the one who fought that mean old Ventus guy. You saved me."

"If you insist," I said. I was getting very uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was taking.

"I don't know how I can ever repay you."

She looked up at me, batting her eyelashes. I was feeling extremely awkward. Extremely, extremely awkward. Thankfully, a large, fat spider chose that moment to drop down right onto Lulu's head. She quickly forgot about me, and began running around swatting at her head. I noticed, however, that the spider had already scuttled off to ride on Carrie's shoulder. I made a mental note to thank her later.

The Doctor stopped us at a door off the passageway.

"Here we are," he said, opening it.

There was a loud, ear shattering squeal, and Leon disappeared from sight. I looked across the hall from the door and saw Leon sprawled against the wall with a very happy looking Yuffie sitting on top of him.

"Yuffie!" Carrie screamed, and glomped the ninja. I quickly followed suit.

"Yuffie, we thought you were dead!"

"We thought you guys were!" she said back. "Aerith's here too, and so is Merlin!"

They were alive. I let out a happy sigh of relief as Aerith and Merlin joined us in the hallway. However, my relief was short lived.

"What did he mean when he said that I was his mother?" Kairi voiced aloud.

Yuffie whipped around to face her.

"Who said what now?!"

Aerith ushered us into the room she and Merlin had just come out of. It was set up like a lounge, with overstuffed armchairs and sofas scattered around the place. It looked oddly familiar. In fact...it looked just like Merlin's lounge! It even had the fireplace complete with roaring fire! This ship was so strange. How could a spaceship have a fireplace?! Anyway, everybody found seats near the fire. I, for one, threw myself down onto the couch closest to the inferno and stretched out across it. Lulu pleaded with her eyes, and I grudgingly let her join me. I noticed Carrie scowling out of the corner of my eye. What was she so ticked about? Generally it took a lot to get her to stop smiling. I gave a little mental shrug. She was probably just concerned about the people of Radiant Garden. Something like that could ruin anyone's day.

Yuffie fidgeted in her seat, barely containing her need to get the gossip.

"Come on, Kairi! Who said they were your kid? And who's she?" Yuffie asked, gesturing to Lulu as she said that last bit.

Kairi explained about everything that went down in the clearing, then said,

"What I don't get is, how could I possibly be his mother? I mean, Ventus is MY age? How would that even work!?"

The Doctor perked up at this.

"You're sure he wasn't lying? Absolutely positive?"

Kairi nodded vehemently.

"Yes. I don't know how I know, but he was definitely telling the truth." She thought for a moment. "Or, at least he thought he was telling the truth."

The Doctor got up and began to pace, rubbing the back of his head in consternation as he spoke.

"If he was telling the truth, then it's possible he's from the future. No, he can't be! I'm the only one with a TARDIS! So how did he do it?"

Carrie raised her hand tentatively.

"Yes?" the Doctor asked.

"Are you saying that he's from the future?"

"Eh, I guess. Technically. Sort of. Close enough. Your point?"

"So time travel is real?" Kairi asked.

"'Course it is! Why do you ask?" he replied.

"You said he couldn't be from the future 'cause he didn't have a TARDIS, so does that mean that because you do have a TARDIS, you can travel in time?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yep."

Kairi's cheeks began to redden. I could tell she was really getting pissed. I mean, on an epic scale. She jumped up and began stalking towards him.

"Do you mean to tell me that you have this huge ship that can travel in time, and you were ONLY ABLE TO SAVE US!? Why couldn't you go back in time and stop Ventus from destroying Radiant Garden!?"

The Doctor backpedaled, moving away from the enraged teen.

"I'm sorry. I truly am, but it's not that simple!" He said as she backed him up against a chair.

"Do you have ANY idea how many people DIED!?"

The Doctor looked her straight in the eyes.

"Yes," he said. "I do. I felt them. Every single one. Every life, every potential future dying, snuffed out like a candle. I couldn't not. It's the burden of the Time Lord."

Kairi seemed to deflate. She trudged back to her seat and collapsed into it. The Doctor moved back to join us, continuing,

"There are points in time that are fixed. Things that no matter how much we want to, we can't change. Not even a Time Lord. The destruction of Radiant Garden is one of those fixed points. I did what I could. I saved all of you. I wish I could have saved them all, but I couldn't. I am truly, deeply sorry. You have no idea."

"You really can travel through time?" I asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Prove it."

The Doctor walked out of the room. A short while later, the TARDIS shook, and I could hear the strange noise of it's engines. About fifteen minutes later, the Doctor walked back in, putting his tie back on. Kairi's eyes widened.

"It was you. In the market. You were the one that started waving his tie around!" Kairi exclaimed.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yep. Can't fool with time except for cheap parlor tricks."

"So, what is a Time Lord exactly? Will we get to meet any others?"

He looked at me sadly. I could see regret in his eyes. And something more. A deepness, and unfathomable age. I looked away, unable to hold his gaze.

"No. I'm the last."

He took a deep breath, then let it out.

"The last of the proud and ancient Time Lords. All of the others are dead," he said, seeming to lose himself in the past. "Perished, in the last, great Time War against the Daleks, a race bent on the obliteration of everything that isn't them. My home was lost, too. Gallifrey. It was thrown out of time. I can never go home. Never ever."

Damn. What a downer.

"Kairi, if you're Venny's mom, then who do you think the father is?" I asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Kairi blushed scarlet, and Carrie and Yuffie started giggling. Even Aerith chuckled a little. I looked at Carrie, and she nodded to me.

"Sora."

Kairi, if possible, blushed even darker.

"Y'know, it does explain a lot," I said musingly.

"You're right," Carrie replied. "Like why he had that necklace."

"Or why he could use a keyblade," I added.

"And what he meant by saying that he could use a keyblade because it ran in the family," replied Bartleby.

Carrie started chanting, "Kairi and Sora, sitting in a tree."

Yuffie and I joined in, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!"

Leon glared at us and barked, "SHUT UP!" then sat back and massaged his temples.

Carrie and I looked at each other and laughed for a bit. Then, Carrie seemed to notice Lulu was still there, and stopped laughing almost immediately. I looked away. Carrie seemed to really not like Lulu for some reason. What was up with her? Since when did Carrie not like somebody? I made a mental not to go talk to her later when Lulu wasn't around.

During this exchange, Bartleby seemed to be in deep thought. He came out of his reverie to ask,

"Do you recall what Ventus said? The first time we met him, Ventus implied that there was a war coming, and that we should choose a side. What could he have meant? For some reason, that phrase he used, it keeps echoing in my head." Bartleby said, almost to himself.

"The drums of war are sounding. Can you hear them? It would be wise for you to choose a side..."

Yeah. I remembered alright. And I couldn't help but agree with Bartleby. Something about the way Ventus said it just makes me shiver. Something was going down, and I had a feeling it wasn't good.

"I know what you mean, Bartleby. I just can't figure out why it stands out so much." I said.

"We don't know enough." Kairi asserted.

"I'd agree with you there," I said, "But where to look?"

Lulu looked up at this.

"The past."

We all looked at her, a bit startled. She had been so quiet up 'till now.

"What?" I asked.

"The past," Lulu replied. "Ventus' past."

"You mean our present." Bartleby stated.

Lulu shrugged.

"Or further back. How should I know? But he seems fixated on his past, his parents, so why not look farther back?"

I was stunned. It was actually a good idea. I had no idea where she got it from, but it kinda made sense.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," Kairi said.

"I see no reason not to try," agreed Bartleby.

Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith all thought it was a good idea too. Carrie, however, remained silent.

"I guess that means we check the past," I said.

The Doctor clapped his hands at this.

"Okay, where and when? How about ten years? No, too boring. Let's go back 13 years. Annnd let's try..." he looked to Kairi, who supplied,

"Destiny Islands."

"Alright! Destiny Islands, 13 years in the past! Anybody got a problem with that?" he asked.

There were no objection.

"In that case," the Doctor said, "Allons-y!"(let's go!)

He dashed out of the room and soon we could hear a strange whooshing noise. We were off.

"Okay, anyone who has never traveled in time before, raise their hands."

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C25:Whew! That was a very difficult chapter to write. I'd like to thank Naes17 for helping me with it. I don't think I'll do review replies this time, because frankly, it's been really f-ing long since the last chapter and I don't feel like doing them. I'll definitely have them in the next chapter, whenever that comes. For now, R+R, and I'll reply individually, and will probably have two reviewer's corners in the next chapter, but for now, you just get the story.

On another note, I have a poll up on my site, and I would really value everyone's opinion on it. It is a very important issue that I would like to get resolved.